Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Mamba Sours

All Candy Expo begins in one week, and here I am still sitting on samples from the last show! Part of the reason that I haven’t told you about Mamba Sours yet was because I didn’t see them in stores. Sometimes I review stuff that isn’t out, but most of the time I like to time my reviews of new items to when they actually hit shelves.

Finally I stumbled across them at a truck stop in Westley, CA and figured if they were there, they were probably in other more accessible stores.

Mamba Sour

Mambas are made by Storck, who also makes some other interesting candies like Toffeefay, Chocolate Riesen and probably most famously, Werther’s Originals. Mambas are simply little fruit chews, rather like Starbursts or HiCHEW.

Their newest addition to the line, introduced last year, is the sour version of the hard to find Mambas. They come in the same flavors: Orange, Lemon,

Cherry

Strawberry & Raspberry. (But the single pack only includes three random flavors. I was lucky enough to pick out one of each flavor at the convention so I could taste them all.)

They shape of the candies is similar to HiCHEW - a long little rectangle, not a flattened cube like Starburst. Each little mini-pack has 6 chews.

They’re lightly colored, which seems unnecessary since they’re not only wrapped in papers that tell you what flavor they are, then those are in another single-flavor wrapping. (Maybe there’s a superfluous wrapper in this mix?)

They’re firm, perhaps a little hard at first, but soften nicely in the mouth. The flavor is immediately tart for all of them, but also has a strange soft fragrant flavor that’s not usually found in sours. For example, the lemon tastes much like powdered lemonade mix ... which I enjoy, but then there’s this light background like lemon blossom or something, it just adds a dimension to it. And in most cases it feels kind of classy.

I’ve had stronger sours, and really, if I haven’t had Mambas before, I wouldn’t guess that these are really a sour either. They’re tart, and they do get me a little tingly, but there were no faces involved and absolutely nothing to bother my tongue to the point that I’d stop eating all four packages.

The chew is great once it softens, it’s smooth and wonderfully consistent in its flavor all the way to the end. Some chews, like Skittles, can get a bit grainy towards the end, this didn’t at all.

Given the choice between regular Mambas and these, I’d actually pick the sours from now on. (But I have to admit that I haven’t bought Mambas since my last review of them but upon revisiting them, they’re really an underrated candy.) I still prefer the zap of Starburst, but that might just be complacency.

Related Candies

  1. Werther’s Caramel Coffee Hard Candies
  2. Werther’s Original Chewy Caramels
  3. HiCHEW Yuzu & Valencia
  4. HiCHEW Assortment
  5. Storck Mamba Chews
Name: Mamba Sour
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Storck
Place Purchased: All Candy Expo samples
Price: $.69 retai
Size: 2.65 ounces
Calories per ounce: 125
Categories: Chew, Sour, Storck, Germany

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:21 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. I just couldn’t believe a whole year had passed since the last Expo! And was so relieved to see that it has only been since September. Someday, someday I will find a way to get in…. Guess it is finally time to start a blog.

    Comment by KateC on 5/13/08 at 8:18 am #
  2. Your review says they come in cherry, but the picture shows strawberry.  looks like mambas are having an idenity crisis smile

    Comment by Lin on 5/14/08 at 3:25 am #
  3. Well the All Candy Expo is getting close, I go to work tomorrow, at McCormick Place, to setup the show. I am looking forward to seeing the displays this year. I hope you enjoy the show. The weather should be nice next week.

    Comment by Michael J Hartman on 5/15/08 at 3:16 am #
  4. hey i was wondering, dyou really taste all the new sweets that come out ? i am a real sweet lover, if i could i’d only eat candy and sweet things. If that’s what you do then lucky you !!!!

    Comment by Camille on 5/16/08 at 9:21 am #
  5. That’s interesting, I’ve heard about Mamba before but I’ve always confused them with similar chews - Haribo produces a range of fruit chews called Maoam. Confusing! They also come in very alike small packages with a few chews in each. According to Haribo’s website, the Maoam brand has been around since the 1930s.. does anyone know why the products are so similar or is there an apparent copycat involved?

    Comment by Emma on 1/09/09 at 2:08 am #
  6. Cybele's avatar

    Emma - Mamba were introduced in 1953, so yes, they came along after the Maoam. My guess on why there are two fruit chews in Germany is probably price, as Mambas are a little bit cheaper.

    (For a while in the US we also had two fruit chews, Starburst & Bonkers.)

    Comment by Cybele on 1/09/09 at 4:10 am #
  7. Our local candy store had a half off sale so I bought these for my son who loves sour anything. I ended up eating them and WOW - they are really yummy! They aren’t too sour and are better than Starburst. I especially liked the raspberry flavor. I will buy Mamba Sour often now.

    Comment by Suzanne on 11/12/09 at 7:53 am #
  8. this is delicious!
    since I am a vegetarian i cannot eat some candies because of geletin (PROOF!:http://www.happycow.net/health-animal-ingredients.html) and this says VEGAN! Very yummy mambas are! smile!

    Comment by Jordan smith on 2/06/10 at 9:54 am #
  9. I bot some of your Mamba and it is 4 in the pack but I got 3 in the pack.I am mad to.I love them but I tell everybody too.

    Comment by Jamira Williams on 12/25/11 at 10:46 pm #
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